Hope
by vespertine dreams
Summary: What should have happened. Spoilers for COE-Day 4. Mild slash- Ianto/Jack. Reviews Welcome.


Notes- My take on what _should_ have happened at the end of Children of Earth day 4. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is mad at the writers over this, and hoping that they come to their senses and find a way to bring him back if they intend to make series 4. I guess that, until then, it's up to us to keep Ianto alive.

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Hope.

Jack listened in horror as the creature in the plexiglass cell informed them what it had just done, what it had set in motion. The doors had slammed shut a few moments ago, leaving them trapped and, for the first time in a long time, a real and all consuming panic washed over him. He could survive anything but Ianto couldn't.

"Not him, please," he begged, but the 456 didn't reply. He turned to Ianto. "We've got to get you out of here; I'll be fine but you won't."

Ianto shook his head sadly. "It's too late. I breathed the air."

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Jack raced around the room, looking for what he needed, all the time feeling the curious gaze of the 456 on him. He couldn't see it, hidden as it was in the manufactured atmosphere in the cell but he knew it was watching. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to care; he had one shot at this, one chance to save Ianto.

Ianto lay on the ground, fighting to keep his eyes open as it got harder to breathe. Jack lifted him, Ianto's head in his lap.

"Stay with me, Ianto."

Ianto looked up at him, flinching as he felt something sharp cut his arm. "What…?"

"Don't worry about it, just stay focussed on me," Jack told him, leaning over to do something. He couldn't see what; Jack kept his head on his lap, restricting his view, talking to him, keeping his mind occupied.

"Promise you won't forget me," he said.

Jack took off his coat and rolled up a shirt sleeve, picking up a penknife from the ground beside him. When he saw Ianto looking, he turned to the side a little, blocking his view.

"I could never forget you, Ianto," he promised.

Ianto felt his eyes close again and forced them open to look up at Jack. "I love you."

Jack smiled down at him. "I love you too, which is why I'm not going to let you die."

That sentiment, more than the promise after it, was what mattered to Ianto. He knew that Jack would try, but there were some things that even he couldn't fix and this was one of them. At least he knew that Jack loved him. That thought was still running through his mind when his world went dark.

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Jack came awake with a gasping breath, sitting up and seeing the full horror of what had happened in Thames House. Laid out right across the wide floor were rows and rows of bodies, covered with orange sheets. Beside him, Gwen knelt, looking down at the next person to him. He knew it was Ianto before he even looked, saw it from Gwen's tears and felt it in his heart. If he was awake and Ianto wasn't then it hadn't worked.

"Come on, Ianto, please."

At the murmured words, Gwen frowned up at him, confused.

"It has to work."

Later, after Gwen had stopped her efforts to persuade him to leave and the armed soldiers had escorted her out, Jack sat cross-legged on the floor, hoping. They had tried to move him with words and then threats but he had no intention of going anywhere. Nearly three hours after he woke up, Jack heard the one sound in the world he had been waiting for.

Ianto took a breath.

"Jack?"

Jack knew he was grinning like an idiot but he didn't care. He gathered Ianto to him, holding him tight against his chest as he felt a tear roll down his cheek. Ianto's eyes were open and he looked panicked. As Jack held him, however, he began to calm.

"What happened? How am I here?"

"I told you I wasn't ready to let you go yet," Jack said, wiping his eyes. "I transfused some of my blood into you. It altered you, gave you my healing ability." He finally released his grip a little, relaxing now that he knew Ianto would be alright.

"Will it be permanent?"

"I don't know. It might just heal you this time or it might make you like me; I've never tried this before." Jack shook his head. "It took longer than it does with me; for a while there I thought I'd lost you," he confessed.

Jack got to his feet and helped Ianto up, pulling him in for a kiss. Wanting to get away from this room, away from the death it contained, he took Ianto's hand and led him out. Time to go save the world again and this time, with Ianto back at his side, he knew they could.

End.


End file.
